


Corruption Sanders

by snowezrogers



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Attempted Murder, Blackmail, Blood, Forced Eating Disorder, Forced Starvation, Happy Ending, Infection, Injury, Manipulation, Nausea, Needles, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape Aftermath, Rape/Non-con Elements, Service Dogs, Shock, Starvation, Stitches, Suicide Attempt, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Trauma, Unsympathetic Morality | Patton Sanders, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 01:29:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20145325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowezrogers/pseuds/snowezrogers
Summary: After Deceit ducks out, Patton shows his true colors. And those colors are not good ones.





	Corruption Sanders

Deceit had taken abuse from Patton for a long time. One-sided verbal abuse was normal for him, physical abuse was almost no holds barred and Deceit had gotten far too good at both concealing and healing his injuries. The only thing that truly affected him much anymore was simply how manipulative and forceful the moral side was in the bedroom.

He’d gotten used to all the abuse, but it was still infuriating that Patton thought of him as a lesser. His opinion is always invalidated by his opposite. He hated it but he couldn’t do anything about it. He’d gotten too invested.

When he was dating Patton, Remus was willingly allowed to join his and Roman’s rooms again and they could fix their almost broken sibling bond that had been torn apart by Patton in the first place.

Logan and him had so many discussions about their interests in space and their respective forms of science, biology for Deceit and astronomy for Logan. He and Virgil repaired their bond and they were best friends again. Roman and him bonded over their dramatics, Remus seemed to calm down dramatically with his intrusive ideas.

He had a family again. He felt wanted. All he had to do was put up with some abuse, which he could do. But dismissing his opinion was becoming a hazard to Thomas’ health. He was his defense from the outside world. He was the embodiment of Thomas’ Active Self-Preservation opposed to Virgil’s Passive form.

And, with both of them seemingly backed into the corner Patton put their opinions in, he was getting frustrated and was getting closer and closer to snapping and finally defending himself.

And, when he finally snapped, it was over something stupid. A party, a stupid party. Thomas just didn’t want to go and Patton was, yet again, forcing him to go. Thomas was too stressed, very clearly having stretched himself too thin.

Their host had been exhausted the entire discussion and the damn party was in just a couple hours. There was no way he could go, especially alone like Patton suggested.

“It’s too costly. He’s exhausted! He can’t go to the damn party!” He finally snapped at his boyfriend. No, no, abuser. He couldn’t keep thinking of him as anything more than that anymore.

“If he doesn’t go, he’ll be a bad friend!” Patton shot back.

“Well, I’m sorry you can’t accept that you’re wrong!” Deceit bared his fangs at the moral side in defense.

“If you’re going to be like that, just go away, Deceit!” Deceit seemed to lock up at being told that. He felt something in his head snap and he felt like he was just..numb. Like he couldn’t feel anything. He was just numb and he didn’t like it.

“Fine. Deal with your choices.” And Deceit sank out, resolving himself to duck out soon. If they wouldn’t listen, maybe drastic measures to try to save Thomas from this self-destructive path was the only way.

After an hour of his contemplations on ducking out, Patton came to his room and left not an hour later, leaving Deceit with his skin crawling and bruises over his wrists and hips. He ducked out exactly after Patton left, locking his room to any side that intended to come in unless Thomas himself came with them.

He hated the isolation of ducking out especially, he usually spent time with the twins. He couldn’t stop himself when he started crying. Being locked up all alone with just his thoughts was too much, especially since he was never truly alone with Remus around.

He somehow missed that crazed dumpster of a man and his dramatic theater geek brother. He missed Logan’s nonstop talks of space and Virgil’s conspiracy theories. He missed his family. But that wasn’t his family anymore, it was _Patton’s_ family.

After a while he forced himself up and to shower, scrubbing his skin raw and throwing up, since his body didn’t care if he was already in pain having not eaten in a good two weeks, because of Patton. Every time he’d eat, Patton would force him to throw up not long after.

Dee fell asleep curled up tightly into a ball on his bed once he could get himself into his bed, hoping maybe ducking out would work. It could be his last chance to show them how necessary his opinion was sometimes, he needed this to work. 

* * *

The Mindscape was unreasonably quiet. Virgil was silently sitting curled up in a little ball on the couch sipping his coffee with the cup resting against his lips even when he wasn’t drinking it, as usual. Roman and Remus were simply staring at the television, which was displaying Brave for maybe the third time that month, again, as usual.

Patton and Deceit weren’t there. Odd. Usually Deceit toddled downstairs for coffee the same time Logan finally left his room, and, usually, he was wrapped with his weighted blanket with adhesive heat pads stuck to his hands and feet to keep them warm.

Patton usually got up with Virgil to give him coffee and made everyone breakfast. But he ignored it mostly, getting his own coffee and beginning to make everyone breakfast and snacks. Logan didn’t notice a difference until Virgil came in and clung onto his side, burrowing and seemingly unwilling to let go.

This, however ,was normal. Virgil was incredibly clingy in the morning since his acceptance. However, the fact that it was him was a bit odd. Maybe he just still felt clingy now that Patton had, seemingly, gone back to his room for a little bit.

“Good morning, Virgil.” But he continued to finish up breakfast despite the slight inconvenience of an emo attached to his left side. Said emo eventually sat at the table and ate with him silently, while Remus and Roman ate quietly in the living room so they could watch their movies.

“Virgil, why is this morning so quiet?“ He asked after he’d cleaned up the plates.

“Nobody can lie.” Virgil blurted out and covered his mouth with tears sprouting up in his eyes. Ah, he wouldn’t have recognized that. He could deal with Deceit and this lying dilemma later. Right now he had to help Virgil calm down.

“Are you alright, Virgil?” He tried to pinpoint why his friend was crying.

“Patton told me he hates me!” Virgil hiccupped.

“He, what!?” he felt offended on Virgil’s behalf. How _dare_ Patton say that!? Virgil wasn’t perfect, but he was trying at least. Mismatched purple and brown eyes got wide at his anger.

“Don’t hit me like him.” Virgil almost pleaded. His heart dropped.

“I won’t. I’d never hurt you willingly, Virgil. Come here.” He gently pulled the anxious side against him, letting him break down against him. His heart hurt hearing him cry and feeling him grasp close to him for some form of comfort. He was more than willing to let Virgil cry himself out and hug him for comfort.

“’M sorry.” Virgil whispered after he’d finally composed himself enough. He was shaky and he was still almost in tears, almost crying still. This just wouldn’t stand. He was bottling his fury for later though.

He didn’t think he’d ever seen Virgil cry before and he had always been sure he never would, but he couldn’t stop his heart breaking when he saw just how affected Virgil was. It only fueled his inner rage toward the moral side.

“It’s alright, it’s not your fault.” He tried to assure him.

“But Dee’s ducked out and Patton’s mad and-”

“And that’s not your fault. Not at all. You are an innocent third party that happened to be caught in the middle. And it’s not right what Patton did, I’m sorry I wasn’t here to stop him. But I promise he won’t do it again, I won’t allow it if I have any say over it.”

He held Virgil’s head against his shoulder as the anxious trait dissolved back into a fit of crying. He had a feeling there was more than Patton just hitting him but he didn’t want to push him when he was already too emotionally fragile.

But he needed to know what happened if he was going to confront Patton on his actions or at least solve whatever problems that were happening right now between Deceit ducking out and Patton apparently hiding darker feelings toward them.

“Virgil, I truly hate to ask but hitting you wasn’t all Patton did, was it?” Virgil shook his head and wiped his eyes quickly. “You don’t have to tell me if you can’t. But if you can, could you tell me? Only if you can.” It was a fresh wound, Logan knew. It was probably this morning and he didn’t want to bring Virgil to an emotional breakdown.

“He said he’d do it to Roman or Remus if I didn’t let him.” It was hard to admit, it seemed. Logan understood, of course. Abuse was hard, even harder if it was a new development. He was cursed with the knowledge of it.

“I don’t wish to push you too far or hurt you in any way. But if you’re able to tell me, could you?” He asked. The look Virgil gave him clearly told him it was much worse than just being hit. Logan’s mind immediately raced toward the worst case scenario.

Did Patton hurt Virgil’s pets? Did Patton re-open old cut marks? Did Patton give Virgil a more damaging injury than Virgil was comfortable saying? Virgil took a deep breath and mumbled something too indiscernible to make out.

“Could you please speak up, Vee? If you’re comfortable with it.” Logan was sure to keep his voice from being robotic, Virgil didn’t need that right now. He needed concern and someone who cared and he’d be damned if he didn’t give his friend someone to care about him right now.

“He raped me.” Virgil meekly admitted and Logan’s face set. He felt his whole demeanor change. His rage spiked and he wanted to throttle Patton with his damn cat hoodie like he deserved. Screw civil confrontation, he was too angry. He had full intentions to break Patton’s hand the next time he saw him even try to touch Virgil.

He was shaking with contained fury. But he calmed himself for Virgil’s sake. His friend needed someone he could trust, he couldn’t subject him to his anger that wasn’t even directed toward him.

“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me that, Virgil. Are you alright? Would you like to talk about it or is it too hard to at the moment?” Logan rubbed over the smaller side’s back.

“I trusted him! He said he loved me! Why do I always screw it up? Why pick me!?” Virgil dissolved into crying fury as he descended into an anxiety attack. Somehow, Logan didn’t think this was the first one he’d had this morning. It couldn’t have been with how exhausted and stressed Virgil was already.

“Breathe with me, slowly. It’s going to be alright.” He assured him. Logan saw Virgil’s service dog come busting into the kitchen to help calm Virgil down. Logan wasn’t one for sitting on the floor but it was easier to allow Angel help Virgil if he sat down with him.

He could see Remus and Roman at the door in slight shock as Angel calmed Virgil down from his anxiety attack. He wouldn’t tell them, no matter how much they begged him to tell, he decided. It wasn’t his obligation to tell them, it was Virgil’s decision and it was when the anxious side was ready to.

Once Angel had managed to calm him, Virgil scrubbed his eyes with his hoodie sleeves, smudging his makeup even more. Angel nuzzled her owner gently to keep him calm.

“I’m okay, Angel.” She calmed down herself.

“Remus, Roman, please leave for a moment?” Virgil looked at him for all of a second before he understood what he meant and just why he was saying that.

“Why? Why’s Virgil crying!?” Roman seemed rather outraged that he was being told to leave. Logan glowered at him that clearly told him there was no arguing this and Remus pulled his twin out of the kitchen back to the living room.

“Virgil, you’re very brave for confiding in me and I’m so, so proud of you. If you ever need to talk, anytime, I’m always here for you when you need me. Do you need anything?” He was quiet in case Roman had decided to listen in.

“You believe me?” Virgil seemed astonished.

“I have absolutely no reason not to. I believe you completely.” He assured him.

Virgil began tapping his curled hands together like he didn’t know if he believed him or not. It was hard for Virgil to trust, he knew. And Patton had been the first light side he trusted. Logan knew recovery would be a long, rough road for Virgil already just with beginning to heal.

“I’m sorry I worried you over it, Lo. I...I probably deserved it. It’s my fault, I should go...” Virgil made to get up and he knew Virgil would try to run off and isolate himself in his room.

“It’s not your fault, Virgil. And you, in no way, could have deserved that to happen to you. Nobody does. Virgil, as little as I say it, I do care about you and nothing you feel is insignificant. Nothing.” Virgil buried against him, shaking with both exhaustion and anxiety attack aftermath.

He held him gently against him, letting Virgil fall asleep against his shoulder. He knew the smaller side needed it, he looked passed exhausted and was beyond stressed. Carefully, he settled his arms beneath his knees and around his mid-back, slowly standing up and picking Virgil up with him.

The anxious side was light, almost alarmingly so, but that could be addressed another time, he wasn’t going to stress Virgil more today than he already was. He simply adjusted himself and began to walk toward the swinging kitchen door, opening it with his back and carefully making sure Virgil didn’t hit the doorframe.

Remus and Roman were anxiously staring at the television, neither quite paying attention but anxiously waiting to see the outcome of the outburst in the kitchen. Logan gently set the sleeping light side down on the couch, covering him with a blanket and placing a pillow under his head.

“Lo, what happened?” Roman was quiet this time, almost like Remus had told him off. But Roman was still very obviously worried.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you. It’s not my decision to make to tell you and I can’t invade Virgil’s privacy and mental health by telling you. If he wants you to know, he’ll tell you when he feels ready, but I can’t tell you.” He explained, making sure Virgil at least looked comfortable. He couldn’t quite tell if Virgil was comfortable or not, but he could at least make him as comfortable as possible.

“Is he alright?” Remus was almost too quiet. He thought it was Roman at first, but then he looked to see Remus anxiously rolling his foot back and forth from heel to toes and back again on the floor and Roman was looking at his twin. So it had to have been Remus, but it just sounded so unlike him, way too uncharacteristically quiet.

“He seems to be okay physically. His mental health isn’t good right now. He’s going to have problems with trust, I believe. Maybe physical contact as well. We’ll establish new boundaries with him later when he’s comfortable and rested, just to be sure.” Logan reassured them.

Neither twin asked what happened again. Logan brushed Virgil’s hair from his eyes and the emo, still asleep, cuddled into his comfy position, curling up and giving out a soft noise that sounded like he was content with his sleeping position.

Angel jumped up on the couch and settled herself against her boy, head against his neck and her body curled up into the divet between Virgil’s stomach and legs. She didn’t look all too comfy in the position but Logan knew she wouldn’t move until Virgil woke up or unless she was needing to protect her charge.

At least the logical side had that much peace of mind that Angel was guarding her owner. And Virgil had both creative twins to look after him as well. It gave him at least that much confidence leaving him here.

“Could you three watch him? Don’t let Patton around him. If he wakes up while I’m not here, offer him some water, he’ll probably be a bit dehydrated.“ He knew it was probably not okay to almost tell them Patton was responsible for this, but he refused to have the moral side given an advantage to hurt Virgil again simply because of Roman and Remus’ ignorance of the situation.

Both twins agreed and Angel seemed to cuddle further into her charge like she was agreeing. With that, Logan left to Deceit’s room. He knocked on the door with no answer. And, after a bit, he took a deep breath and sighed. This was getting nowhere.

“Deceit, I’m coming in.” That didn’t even seem to get a rise from the deceptive trait, Deceit always answered his door. As his hand turned the doorknob and, miraculously, it turned and opened.

Virgil had said Dee had ducked out but it seemed that someone had already gotten him to unlock his room. He shut the door behind him. Seeing Deceit on the bed was usual. Sometimes Deceit needed to take a nap in the morning or during the day, being nocturnal and all.

But what set him off was just how little he was moving. He seemed like he was barely breathing. Upon getting closer, Logan knew he smelled blood, _fresh_ blood. He felt his stomach churn when he reached the bed and found that Deceit was staring blankly at the wall ahead of him.

He was wearing clothes, or he had been. Logan didn’t even think they could be called clothing anymore, they were nearly shredded now. His back was mottled of bruises and whip marks and his neck had purple handprints slowly flowering up in a way that clearly meant that he was choked. The blood’s source was long gashes on all of Dee’s arms lengthwise, all six had one along the major arteries.

It was very clearly not self inflicted. None of it could be. Logan carefully pulled the blanket down, checking the lying side’s arms and slowly stemming the blood flow of each with towels he conjured.

He was immediately nauseous when he moved the blanket down. Deceit’s sleep pants were almost torn apart like he’d been mauled and his thighs were no longer pale but painted with deep purple bruises and long, red cuts along his left leg, seemingly having been to find the major vein there.

Logan quickly inspected the deepest cut and was relieved to find it didn’t get to that vein, none of them had. It had been made hastily and without knowing exactly where the vein was, thankfully. He then pressed another towel against it to stem the blood flow.

Deceit was muttering now, dazed and in shock and Logan didn’t doubt his friend wasn’t traumatized. Something about ‘please don’t’ and ‘not again’. It brought his stomach to twisting in discomfort and nausea.

But he knew that if he didn’t do anything, then Deceit would surely have something get infected and he’d never forgive himself if Dee got an infection because of his lack of courage.

He grabbed clean clothes for Dee, a fluffy, soft sweater, loose sleep pants, and just a random pair of underwear. He set them on the counter in Deceit’s bathroom and conjured clean towels on the counter as well. He went back to get Deceit. He hated it, but he needed to get him cleaned up to prevent him from any infections.

When he made to carefully lift him with his arms around his middle back and knees, the snake immediately gave a sob, slowly coming back to himself. Logan sat him back on the bed, gingerly holding his main two hands in his own and allowing him to come back to reality.

Deceit hiccupped and looked up at him dazedly, tears falling over his face and making his scales shine. The lying side slowly dissolved into tears and sobbing and Logan accepted the crying side into his arms.

“It’s okay, Dee. I’m here. It’s just Logan.” He assured the crying side. It wasn’t as long for Deceit to calm down as it was for Virgil. The snake trait was now just trembling with both the cold and fear.

Logan hugged him gently. He didn’t want his arms or leg to start bleeding again so he was as careful as possible not to make the already open injuries hurt even more. Deceit tried to preserve what little decency he had by weakly forcing two of his hands against himself to hide himself from sight even though Logan refused to invade his privacy that way.

“Deceit, are you okay?” The deceitful trait shook his head. Logan mentally slapped himself at his stupid question. Of course he wasn’t okay. He was hurting and very obviously injured. “Sorry, dumb question. I meant are you alright to talk? Would you like to talk about it? It’s okay if you can’t.” He corrected himself.

“Not right now. If that’s okay.” Deceit whispered meekly.

“Of course it’s okay. I wouldn’t force you to talk about something so personal.” He assured the snake. Deceit gazed up at him. “I know you probably would like to shower after that. Would you like some help?” Deceit nodded softly. “Is it okay if I pick you up again? I don’t think you’ll be able to walk for a little bit without pain while your leg heals.” Logan asked gently. Another nod.

He gathered the liar in his arms again and he carried him to the bathroom, gently setting him on the closed toilet. Deceit was quiet allowing Logan to help him get his tattered clothes off and quiet allowing Logan to help him into the tub. They both knew he couldn’t stand and neither was about to strain Dee’s left leg.

Logan didn’t set the water hot or cold, but lukewarm. He didn’t want the wounds getting too irritated by the temperature and beginning to bleed again from agitation.

The logical side was careful to help him get clean, making sure none of the wounds got injured or got soap in them. He turned the water off once he was done and wrapped Dee in a warm, fluffy towel.

He was careful helping him out of the tub and onto the counter so he could tend to the wounds. The cuts were fairly deep, seeming to only miss major veins by centimeters, maybe less. Logan knew already that he’d be stitching them.

“Deceit, I’ll need to stitch these up.” Logan alerted him.

“Will it hurt?” The snake asked softly.

“A bit, but I can numb them prior to the stitches if you’d like.” The liar nodded.

“Please. I can’t...I can’t do it again. No more pain. Please.” Logan smiled as softly as he could.

“Of course, Dee.” Logan assured him. He summoned a syringe with a needle, a bottle of local anesthetic, surgical thread, and a needle made for piercing skin. It was a monotonous process. He did Dee’s leg first, then each of his arms.

Anesthetic, then stitch after stitch, it was repetitive work, not particularly laborious either. But it was calmingly quiet between them, a soothing silence that allowed Deceit to recover further and Logan to keep his mind off the idea of the issue that was Patton.

When the stitches were done, Logan summoned medical tape and gauze pads and gauze wraps. Gingerly, he placed the gauze pads over the stitched wounds, taping them over the uninjured skin around the wounds. The gauze wrap was next, covering the gauze pads until he was sure they would stay in place even if the tape came undone.

He then bundled Deceit in loose sleep pants, socks, and a shirt he was careful to get over all his arms. He also put on Deceit’s adhesive heat pads on his hands and feet so the deceitful side wouldn’t have to strain his arms yet.

“Would you like to go downstairs and be with Remus, Roman, Virgil, and I?” He asked, hoping he said...

“Yes.” He gave a slight inward breath of relief. He didn’t have to leave him unattended up here. He picked him up, careful of his leg, and he carried the snake downstairs. He settled Deceit on the couch and put a throw blanket around him as well.

“Would you like any food, Dee?” He nodded silently so Logan got him some of the leftover eggs and pancakes from earlier and making sure it was warm before he handed it to the liar with a lighter plastic spoon, less for his weak arms to have to pick up the weight of.

Virgil was, thankfully, still asleep with Angel buried against him still on her guard. Remus and Roman were glancing at Deceit’s arms occasionally while Logan sat between the purple and yellow sides.

“Deceit, are things going back to how they were?” Deceit’s eyes bolted up like he’d been asked the most terrifying question he ever had been asked, his eyes wide and his face pale.

“No, I can’t go back. I already ruined everything. It’s my fault.“ He was quiet and soft and it broke Logan’s heart a little. He was getting teary again and he even hiccupped trying to keep his crying contained.

Angel whined a little and she tried to comfort him from afar with it. Roman and Remus looked between each other with equally shocked expressions, Logan settled his emotions into calm as he let Deceit burrow in his arms again.

“It’s going to be okay. You’ll be alright.” He assured him, fingers in his hair and he slowly calmed down again.

Angel whined softer when Deceit managed to calm as much as possible and the lying side gave her one of his weak hands to sniff. She whimpered a little bit and nuzzled said offered hand, obviously smelling the blood that must still be leaking from the wounds a little bit.

“What happened?” Remus asked the two of them. Deceit looked up at Logan, who made no movement to tell them at all. It wasn’t his decision, it was Deceit’s.

“I um...P-Patton...” Deceit took a breath to calm his cracking voice. “Patton is abusive. He cut me to try and kill me. He...” Another deep breath and Logan rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, or at least he hoped it was.

“He raped me. He has since we started dating.” Logan bit his lip at Deceit’s admission. He didn’t know that it had been happening for the year they’d been together. He felt tears rise in his eyes as he took a deep breath himself, Angel nudging his hand over her head as Virgil slowly woke up to alert him to it.

He received a sleepy Virgil against him, his hands grasping for Deceit, having obviously heard him.

“Gentle, Virgil. He’s injured.” Logan reminded the tired side. Deceit was laying against him tiredly, his shock and adrenaline waning away and leaving him tired. Virgil removed his hand from Deceit’s own and gazed up at him in his post-sleep state but worry was clear in his eyes.

“Is he okay?” The anxious side asked. Deceit’s body going limp against his side was his sign that he was asleep now, head nudged into his neck and shoulder, hair tickling Logan’s ear.

“He’s wearing off shock and adrenaline I’d assume. He’s quite substantially injured, I needed to sew up all his arms and his left leg because the cuts were so deep. I had to stop counting at one hundred.” Even he cringed at that, he hated knowing Deceit needed so many stitches. It made him a little nauseous. He cleared his throat.

“He has a lot of bruises. While he’s healing, we need to be careful but we must not treat him as fragile. He’s not a porcelain doll and he’s not broken. He needs us to be there and supportive and to listen, not baby him and treat him as if he’s useless.” All three others nodded.

“Patton hurt him anyway. It’s my fault.” Roman’s eyes bolted to Virgil as the purple side curled into himself, Angel whining and nuzzling at him to let her calm him down.

“It couldn’t possibly be-” Roman began.

“No! He said if I let him touch me, he wouldn’t hurt Deceit but he did it anyway!” The anxious side abruptly burst into tears and hiccups that Remus hugged him when he began.

“It’s not your fault. He’d been abusing Deceit more than a year. You didn’t know, none of us did. You couldn’t have known that he would hurt him anyway. It’s not your fault that he manipulated you and it’s not your fault he hurt Deceit as well.”

Roman’s eyes widened in realization. He hated seeing it, he hated knowing he’d potentially told the twins of what Patton did to Virgil, but he needed to calm him and the best way was to convince him it wasn’t his fault, which it wasn’t. Patton was now unpredictable with the revelation that he was a known abuser, nothing he did could be predicted.

“Virgil, are you okay? Do you need water?” Roman asked. The anxious side nodded and Roman ran off to the kitchen and came back in less than a minute with water in a tumbler cup with a straw.

Virgil took it with shaking hands and fit his mouth around the straw, leaning into Remus, calming down. Roman sat back down, his leg bouncing nervously. He was worried, Logan knew. He was worried about the two former dark sides. It was seeable, he was Virgil’s best friend and Deceit was slowly falling into that category as well.

Virgil slowly calmed himself down and Angel nuzzled his side, assuring him of her presence. Remus rubbed his shaking arms, giving him some sense of stability in them, trying to help him stop shaking like he was.

Logan determined Patton couldn’t do this again, he wouldn’t allow it. He was no longer light, he was something much, much darker now and he wouldn’t allow that around his family anymore. So he began formulating a plan in his head watching Roman and Remus calm Virgil enough to play videogames on the television. 

* * *

That night was okay. Dinner was just individual pizzas, they each made their own and ate while they took turns playing Mario Kart. They hadn’t seen Patton all day and filming was today. It would get pushed back, of course, maybe.

Upon their group summoning, Logan and Roman were the first to appear, quickly followed by Remus, Deceit, and Virgil. Thomas smiled at first seeing Logan and Roman and even kept his smile when he saw Remus.

But his face fell when he saw Virgil and Deceit and the way they were dressed and how tired they looked despite sleeping so much today. Of course, it was probably because Virgil always wore black jeans, but today was wearing his grey sleep pants still.

It was also probably because Deceit looked so different in sweatpants and a sweater rather than his usual shirt, pants, and cape. He wasn’t even wearing his hat. It was probably also because of the wheelchair Deceit was in so he didn’t put pressure on his injured leg and tear open the stitches.

“What happened? Did something happen?” Thomas asked them. Virgil and Deceit looked at each other and then back to Thomas.

“Patton is abusive and he’s finally gone too far and I’m too tired to dress up all nice and fancy today.” Deceit blurted out and Thomas immediately tried to cover the camera with an exclamation.

“No, leave it rolling.” He told their host. “A video on the topic on abusive relationships.” Thomas seemed to freeze for a moment before he nodded and let the cameras keep rolling. Virgil nodded to agree with Deceit.

“O-Okay, um. How would you like to begin then.“ Thomas asked the two.

“Probably by saying don’t let your partner convince you they’re hurting you out of love. It’s not love, they’re hurting you and it’s not okay. It’s abuse. And they’re only going to get worse. Don’t ever let them convince you that you being in pain is because they love you.” Deceit addressed both Thomas and the camera.

“Virgil?”

“He’s nonverbal today. The shock has rendered him nonverbal since about lunch time.” Logan informed him.

“Okay, buddy. Want a hug?” Thomas asked. Virgil nodded and promptly buried himself in Thomas’ arms. Remus and Roman suddenly both almost tripped over each other and Logan felt Deceit hide against him.

Patton. Or it used to be, at least. Aqua eyes glowed and his features were twisted into a manic smile, eyes crazed and something was just...not there. It was like the happy father figure had left and someone new had taken his place. Something evil.

Roman, of course, drew his sword. Which prompted Remus to summon his morningstar for defense. Logan held Deceit against his side while Thomas hugged Virgil close, allowing the anxious side to hide against him.

“Hiya, kiddos!” Patton’s voice didn’t even sound like his anymore. It sounded so much darker. If this was what he had become, Logan wouldn’t hesitate to send him to the dark side anymore.

“Be gone, villain!” Roman threatened to swing his sword.

“Aw, but kiddo! I just came to Deceit!” Patton exclaimed in mock happiness.

“You won’t come near him!” Thomas snapped at the aqua side.

“Aw, but Thomas-” Patton tried.

“No! I don’t know what you did to them, but you hurt Virgil and Deceit!” Their Host snapped at his moral side.

“Thomas, come on. You must know they’re just lying to you. Oh and they’ve even convinced poor Logan and Roman of it. My poor boys. Don’t listen to them, they’re just lying.” Patton told them, voice drawling to try to make them sympathetic to him. It wouldn’t work.

“You raped me, cut me open, and left me to die! I’m done being abused, I won’t let you lie anymore!” Thomas gasped at the admission and just how severe he knew it was.

“Aw, kiddo. I wish you’d have died.” A momentary flash of fury in Patton’s eyes told them all that Deceit was blocking Patton’s ability to lie. “You better let me lie little bitch or next time I get to you, I’ll make sure you die.” Patton threatened lowly.

“No. Not anymore. I’m done with you. You aren’t morality anymore.” Patton’s mouth gaped for a second before his logo feel to the floor, turning to dust and ashes before Patton could grab it.

The former moral side began yelling incoherently at the deceptive side, shouting profanity and obscenities, death threats, and abuse threats, and all the like. Deceit looked a bit scared at first before his eyes and demeanor set into a protective one rather than the scared one he’d had all day.

“You aren’t Morality anymore. It’s not a title that someone has when they abuse and manipulate people. You’re Corruption and you aren’t allowed outside of the dark side ever again.” Patton’s mouth shut almost immediately a new logo of a skull appearing on his shirt and he was abruptly forced to sink out by the deceptive side.

“Are all of you okay?” Remus asked them, checking on Virgil still shaking in Thomas’ arms. Once he received a resounding yes, he gave a sigh in relief as he gently sat an exhausted Deceit on the couch, making sure he wouldn’t pass out standing up and hurt his head.

“I-If I don’t have a Morality, then what’ll happen?” Thomas asked.

“You do have one. I’m your new Morality.” Deceit told him and Thomas hugged him too, sitting on the couch. Virgil cuddled up on Thomas’ lap, both the yellow and purple sides cuddling into their Host.

Soon enough Roman had summoned Angel and they all cuddled up on the couch watching Monsters Inc, Virgil buried in his weighted blanket with his chew necklace and tangle on Thomas’ lap, Dee asleep against Remus and Logan and Roman watching over their friends.

It wasn’t a perfect movie night, far from it. The anxious and deceptive traits would both need time to heal and it would take time for them to heal from their trauma.

Maybe Deceit would need a wheelchair for a bit longer for safety and maybe Virgil would need a few more reassurances and help from Angel. But they’d heal, they’d get to a point where they could be happy again.


End file.
